The history of whisky production in Japan is a relatively short story, beginning in the 1920's with Shinjiro Torii and Masataka Taketsuru. Masataka had spent considerable time in Scotland, and worked and learnt from Scottish distillers. When Torii and Taketsuru met their joint interest and passion resulted in constructing a distillery in Yamazaki, near Kyoto. By 1929 the pair had released the Shirofuda whisky, which was heralded as proof that Japan would no longer need to import Scotch whisky!
Since these early days the Japanese whisky industry has had a somewhat rollercoaster journey, much like its Scottish counterpart. But Japanese Whisky has firmly cemented itself as good as any others, and an important part of any serious collection.
